Ugh. We've had 2 complaints, one of them several times from the same irate guy, about the stench of the homeless people upstairs lately. With our manager on vacation, I'm the one who's supposed to deal with it. I haven't been on duty when they've come yet, but it's only a matter of time. Our security manual procedure was obviously designed for a cheerful, compliant stinky person, who gets up and leaves without a fuss when you tell them their odor is offensive and they need to get cleaned up before they can come back. Yeah, right. We have a group of at least 5 of them who line up outside the door every morning, just waited to stink us up. They're mostly mentally ill or heroin junkies, so I feel really safe approaching them and telling them they stink. Worrying about it caused me yet another night of very little sleep last night. So I'm stressed out and exhausted, a great combination for dealing with problems.
It's so funny, I was reading A Round-Heeled Woman for book club and I wish I hadn't returned it before I got to include her section on being at the local public library in Berkely and noticing a homeless woman stealing a magazine. It was something like - I didn't complain, none of us did, something about making themselves feel less guilty. Ha!! I guess that's what happens in gentrified areas, but not here. People have no problem complaining here. And I don't blame them. It's disgusting. But how do we fix it? We get rid of them today, they'll be back tomorrow. It's more likely that they'll refuse to leave and then what? We call the cops every single day? Sure, that'll work. I didn't get a Masters Degree to become the bathing police.